Welcome to the CFO Thought Leader podcastOur mission is to bring you personal firsthand accounts of CFOs who are driving change within their organizations.CFO Thought Leader is all about inspiring finance professionals to take a leadership leap. We know that by hearing about the successes — (and yes, also the failures) — of others, today’s CFOs can more confidently chart their own leadership paths across the enterprise and take inspired action.
Category Archives: Podcasts
452: When Being Mission-Driven Means Data-Driven | Pavan Makhija, CFO, Possible
The executives and staffers profiled on Possible’s web site are described by the non-profit integrated healthcare provider as “possibilists” – “people with the perspective to embrace extraordinary challenge and the grit to get remarkable results anyway.” The term suits Possible CFO Pavan Makhija, a former investment banker who possesses dual undergraduate degrees in math and…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:36:33)
451: Advancing When the Time Is Right—But Not Before | Guy Melamed, CFO, Varonis
Whenever he’s faced a difficult crossroads in life or business, Varonis CFO Guy Melamed has focused squarely on goals—sticking to them and scoring them. Despite playing for Israel’s under-21 national soccer team and fielding alluring offers to continue his playing career there, Melamed chose to leave his home country. He attended Boston College, where he…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:59:41)
450: The Visual Thinker | Damon Fletcher, CFO, Tableau
The Discomfort Dividend Before joining Tableau four years ago and stepping into the CFO seat last July, Damon Fletcher worked through a progression of experiences that could serve as a career road map for up-and-coming finance chiefs. After earning his Master of Accounting degree, Fletcher joined PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he worked closely with one of…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:36:46)
449: How Data Is Fueling a Not-for-Profit’s Greater Mission | Kote Lomidze, CFO, World Learning
Cloud ERP + Time = Strategic Influence When Kote Lomidze became World Learning’s CFO four years ago, he immediately began to enhance the functionality of a cloud-based ERP platform that the global educational nonprofit had implemented six months earlier. The work, which Lomidze oversaw in a very hands-on way, generated valuable returns as measured in…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:47:02)
448: A Truly Transformative Chapter | Mike Hug, CFO, Wyndham Destinations
After starting his career in a Big 4 accounting firm and then steadily ascending through numerous (and varied) corporate finance roles over nearly two decades, Michael Hug possessed a clear vision for his CFO tenure at the world’s largest publicly traded timeshare company. “I didn’t want my team to just be the people who come…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:27:45)
447: Making Shareholders Top-of-Mind | Alex Garini, CFO, Sysmex America
Prior to joining Sysmex, a medical diagnostic testing equipment and information systems technology company, five years ago, Alex Garini spent his formative years in Siemens, where his varied experience covered every aspect of corporate finance in addition to stints as the head of strategic projects for one of the conglomerate’s companies. One of Garini’s guiding…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:37:00)
446: The Pulse of Success | V. Suryanarayanan (Surya), CFO, Mphasis
The Pulse of Success Eagle-eyed vision may be Mphasis Executive Vice President and CFO V. Suryanarayanan’s most valuable leadership skill. His ability to zero in on crucial but obscured factors—market conditions affecting the timing of an IPO or the surprisingly high cost of indirect materials used in the motorcycle manufacturing process, for examples—has helped him…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:46:44)
445: How Finance, “The Connector,” Is Wiring Organizations | Michael Bayer, CFO, Wasabi Technologies, Inc.
Wasabi CFO Michael Bayer’s career “Ah-ha!” moment struck early. He was a college math whiz in the early days of PCs when a professor enlisted him to move all of his paper-based finance and accounting records to a computerized system. “He took me under his wing and taught me a lot,” recalls Bayer, whose professional…
444: Blueprint for a Strategic Finance Chief | Raj Agrawal, CFO, Western Union
When he started his career, Western Union CFO Raj Agrawal never expected to wind up leading a global finance function. This seems appropriate today, considering that he defines his role—first and foremost—as “driving and executing the strategy of the company.” Trained as an electrical engineer at General Motors, Agrawal also earned an MBA and then…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:34:21)
443: Trials by Fire and Fortune: Tales of a CFO Change Agent | Tim Saunders, CFO, Canopy Growth Corporation
Tim Saunders seems like the kind of leader you’d follow into battle. He thrives in high-pressure situations, remains cool under pressure, and truly values his troops’ expertise. Saunders also commits to taking on new—and seemingly overwhelming—challenges, like the one that greeted him in his first finance executive role following his time in public accounting. During…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:36:41)
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